Since Prince is the only musician I know thats gone through so many different bandmates for his entire career I've always wondered this from the days of Wendy & Lisa through the NPG and even 3RDEyeGirl...

Did he just stop telling you to show up at PP? Never called again? You heard it from other band members you were out? Or simply...YOU'RE FIRED.

[Edited 6/20/16 11:51am]

2020 said:

I'm sure "he" didn't fire anyone. He had his staff do it for him.

CROWNS1 said:

I'm sure "he" didn't fire anyone. He had his staff do it for him.

Well "we" know that's not true, don't we? He called Bobby Z., and told him he thinks it was a good time to let Sheila play drums for a while. She'd already played on "Pop Life", and "Venus De Milo", and percussion on "Life Can Be So Nice". She was getting a bigger and bigger role in his music. Bobby told Prince "I think that's a great idea, too." It was all very amicable, and Bobby has always said that Prince handled it like a total gentleman. Prince even kept Bobby on payroll for quite a long time afterward. Wendy & Lisa were on their way out by their own accord anyway, but Prince had them over for dinner and let them go. (I think he made the phone call to Bobby the same night). I wonder about Mark though - did he get a call, or did he finally say "I'm out", and just leave? I forget.

I remember a story (maybe in A Pop Life by Dave Hill?) where Prince was talking to Dez, right after the 1999 tour or so. Dez basically said he wasn't happy in the band, which was already known as he had converted to Christianity a couple of years prior, and that if Dez was going to go, Prince said he should go ahead and go now. Because if not, Prince needed him for a three-year commitment (which supports my idea of Prince trying desperately to keep The Revolution intact through the end of the Parade era). Dez couldn't commit to that, and they parted ways.

Boni Boyer probably left on her own as well, as they were fighting all the time on the Lovesexy Tour. When the lights would go out in the arena, Prince and the band were walked to the stage through the dark, right up the aisle on the floor. (Remember, it was in the round.) Prince would try to tell Boni to do something, and she'd tell him to fuck off (in so many words). Prince surely didn't like hearing back talk from an employee, and they'd go back and forth, during that walk through the audience sometimes. I would have loved to had heard some of that.

When Paisley Park was just a midst of insanity and upheavals in the mid-90s, there are multiple stories of Levi just gathering shit up in his office, and leaving. Quite a few folks left in similar fashion. I'm sure Alan Leeds probably gave the news to some employees, but perhaps Prince had a quick chat with other folks in the band, depending on the situation.

If anything, I've noticed that people around Prince get really burned out. Engineers, band members, assistants, whoever. At some point, it's just over for them. They don't come back, or they call to say they're moving onto something else. I wonder if anyone who left still received an official "your services are no longer required" letter, for formalities, from Alan Leeds' office, or whoever ran H.R.

Ultimately, it varied.

PS You're, not your.

TrivialPursuit said:

CROWNS1 said:

I'm sure "he" didn't fire anyone. He had his staff do it for him.

Well "we" know that's not true, don't we? He called Bobby Z., and told him he thinks it was a good time to let Sheila play drums for a while. She'd already played on "Pop Life", and "Venus De Milo", and percussion on "Life Can Be So Nice". She was getting a bigger and bigger role in his music. Bobby told Prince "I think that's a great idea, too." It was all very amicable, and Bobby has always said that Prince handled it like a total gentleman. Prince even kept Bobby on payroll for quite a long time afterward. Wendy & Lisa were on their way out by their own accord anyway, but Prince had them over for dinner and let them go. (I think he made the phone call to Bobby the same night). I wonder about Mark though - did he get a call, or did he finally say "I'm out", and just leave? I forget.

I remember a story (maybe in A Pop Life by Dave Hill?) where Prince was talking to Dez, right after the 1999 tour or so. Dez basically said he wasn't happy in the band, which was already known as he had converted to Christianity a couple of years prior, and that if Dez was going to go, Prince said he should go ahead and go now. Because if not, Prince needed him for a three-year commitment (which supports my idea of Prince trying desperately to keep The Revolution intact through the end of the Parade era). Dez couldn't commit to that, and they parted ways.

Boni Boyer probably left on her own as well, as they were fighting all the time on the Lovesexy Tour. When the lights would go out in the arena, Prince and the band were walked to the stage through the dark, right up the aisle on the floor. (Remember, it was in the round.) Prince would try to tell Boni to do something, and she'd tell him to fuck off (in so many words). Prince surely didn't like hearing back talk from an employee, and they'd go back and forth, during that walk through the audience sometimes. I would have loved to had heard some of that.

When Paisley Park was just a midst of insanity and upheavals in the mid-90s, there are multiple stories of Levi just gathering shit up in his office, and leaving. Quite a few folks left in similar fashion. I'm sure Alan Leeds probably gave the news to some employees, but perhaps Prince had a quick chat with other folks in the band, depending on the situation.

If anything, I've noticed that people around Prince get really burned out. Engineers, band members, assistants, whoever. At some point, it's just over for them. They don't come back, or they call to say they're moving onto something else. I wonder if anyone who left still received an official "your services are no longer required" letter, for formalities, from Alan Leeds' office, or whoever ran H.R.

Ultimately, it varied.

PS You're, not your.

I was thinkin more along the lines of PP staff, not band members. As in the stories of P having staff fired for looking at him.

[Edited 6/20/16 11:41am]

TrivialPursuit said:

CROWNS1 said:

I'm sure "he" didn't fire anyone. He had his staff do it for him.

Well "we" know that's not true, don't we? He called Bobby Z., and told him he thinks it was a good time to let Sheila play drums for a while. She'd already played on "Pop Life", and "Venus De Milo", and percussion on "Life Can Be So Nice". She was getting a bigger and bigger role in his music. Bobby told Prince "I think that's a great idea, too." It was all very amicable, and Bobby has always said that Prince handled it like a total gentleman. Prince even kept Bobby on payroll for quite a long time afterward. Wendy & Lisa were on their way out by their own accord anyway, but Prince had them over for dinner and let them go. (I think he made the phone call to Bobby the same night). I wonder about Mark though - did he get a call, or did he finally say "I'm out", and just leave? I forget.

I remember a story (maybe in A Pop Life by Dave Hill?) where Prince was talking to Dez, right after the 1999 tour or so. Dez basically said he wasn't happy in the band, which was already known as he had converted to Christianity a couple of years prior, and that if Dez was going to go, Prince said he should go ahead and go now. Because if not, Prince needed him for a three-year commitment (which supports my idea of Prince trying desperately to keep The Revolution intact through the end of the Parade era). Dez couldn't commit to that, and they parted ways.

Boni Boyer probably left on her own as well, as they were fighting all the time on the Lovesexy Tour. When the lights would go out in the arena, Prince and the band were walked to the stage through the dark, right up the aisle on the floor. (Remember, it was in the round.) Prince would try to tell Boni to do something, and she'd tell him to fuck off (in so many words). Prince surely didn't like hearing back talk from an employee, and they'd go back and forth, during that walk through the audience sometimes. I would have loved to had heard some of that.

When Paisley Park was just a midst of insanity and upheavals in the mid-90s, there are multiple stories of Levi just gathering shit up in his office, and leaving. Quite a few folks left in similar fashion. I'm sure Alan Leeds probably gave the news to some employees, but perhaps Prince had a quick chat with other folks in the band, depending on the situation.

If anything, I've noticed that people around Prince get really burned out. Engineers, band members, assistants, whoever. At some point, it's just over for them. They don't come back, or they call to say they're moving onto something else. I wonder if anyone who left still received an official "your services are no longer required" letter, for formalities, from Alan Leeds' office, or whoever ran H.R.

Ultimately, it varied.

PS You're, not your.

Great insight..thanks! oh and grammer now correct

to add to TrivialPursuit's post

I think he fired Miko too or it was some kind of ultimatum during their fight

He fired Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, he fired Jerome, he possibly fired Sheila E

he tried to make Cat fire someone, and she didn't like what he was doing so she left

* how did it happen with Gregory Brooks & Wally Safford, Tony M (the Game Boyz)

latter band members etc they are there and then they are gone and we generally know nothing of it